I’ve already talked about how much I enjoyed Searching For Oliver K. Woodman by Darcy Pattison, illustrated by Joe Cepeda (see my blog entry) and Hotel Deep: Light Verse From Dark Water by Kurt Cyrus (see my blog entry) but I also wanted to highlight three more titles on Harcourt’s spring 2005 list.
Continue Reading Harcourt Picture Book Round-Up Spring 2005 »
Hotel Deep: Light Verse From Dark Water by Kurt Cyrus (Harcourt, 2005). Dive into the deep, guided by twenty-one poems–wet, witty, and wild–that bring to life the ocean’s dangers and delights. Magnificiently illustrated, grand in scope, and yet still child-centric in its focus on a lone sardine in search of his school. All ages. Highly recommended.
Continue Reading Hotel Deep: Light Verse From Dark Water by Kurt Cyrus »
Searching For Oliver K. Woodman by Darcy Pattison, illustrated by Joe Cepeda (Harcourt, 2005). Oliver K. Woodman is missing, but no worries! Private Eye Imogene Poplar is on the case. She travels across the United States, clear to the top of the world (Barrow, Alaska) to bring Oliver home. Ages 4-up. Highly recommended.
Continue Reading Searching For Oliver K. Woodman by Darcy Pattison, illustrated by Joe Cepeda »
Moccasin Thunder: American Indian Stories For Today, edited by Lori Marie Carlson (Harper, 2005). Features “A Real-Live Blond Cherokee And His Equally Annoyed Soul Mate” by Cynthia Leitich Smith; other contributing authors: Joy Harjo; Sherman Alexie; Richard Van Camp; Linda Hogan; Joseph Bruchac; Louise Erdrich;
Continue Reading Moccasin Thunder: American Indian Stories For Today, edited by Lori Marie Carlson »
Mere literary talent is common; what is rare is endurance, the continuing desire to work hard at writing.
— Donald Hall
For all the talk about talent, luck, targeted submissions, and trapping editors in bathroom stalls, the one quality common in all of the successful writers I know is that they haven’t given up.
They’ve continued to write with a determination,
“A missing diamond. A 500-year-old necklace. A mystery dating back to the time of William Shakespeare.” — Elise Broach’s site
Shakespeare’s Secret by Elise Broach (Henry Holt, 2005). Hero knows her unusual name comes from a character in the Shakespeare play “Much Ado About Nothing,” but that’s no consolation on the first day of sixth grade at her new school.
I’m sorry to report that children’s book illustrator Michael Lacapa (Hopi-Tewa-White Mountain Apache) has passed away.
He was the author and/or illustrator of such books as: The Magic Hummingbird: A Hopi Folktale, collected and translated by Ekkehart Malotki, narrated by Michael Lomatuway’Ma, illustrated by Michael Lacapa (Kiva, 1995); Antelope Woman: An Apache Folktale retold and illustrated by Michael Lacapa (Kiva,
The Oklahoma Center for the Book has announced the 2005 winners and finalists for the Oklahoma Book Awards:
Children’s Winner
The Gospel Cinderella by Joyce Carol Thomas (Joanna Cotler Books/Harper Collins)
Young Adult Winner
Simon Says by Molly Levite Griffis (Eakin Press)
Finalists
Grand Canyon Rescue by Devon Mihesuah (Booklocker);
The Divine Miss Pixie Woods (AKA Cecil Castellucci; see her site and Live Journal) has syndicated Cynsations on Live Journal.
Check it out, and if you’re an LJ user, I hope this is a help!
Thanks, Miss Cecil!
Notes: (1) Cecil is the author of Boy Proof (Candlewick,
Sure, it’s simple, writing for kids . . . .
Just as simple as bringing them up.
—Ursula K. LeGuin
Nobody likes to be minimized, and one common complaint of children’s/YA writers is having to cope with comments to the effect that our job is easy.
Let’s trace the source. Easy tasks are often described as “child’s play.”